Sunderland 1 - 1 Newcastle: Away Side Score Early and Sit back, but Late Own-Goal Equals it

Newcastle were 10 minutes away from gaining a great win over their rivals until a Demba Ba own goal equalised the scores. Despite conceding late on, Pardew will be the happier of the managers as his side dealt with Sunderland's attacks well despite having one less player after Cheick Tiote was sent off in the 25th minute by referee Marting Atkinson.

Both sides lined up in similar formations, with Sunderland playing a 4-4-1-1, with a back four of Rose, O'Shea, Cuellar and Craig Gardner in front of the Belgian Mignolet in net. The bank of four infront of the defence consisted of McClean, Colback, Larsson and Adam Johnson, who saw a lot of the ball especially in the first half. The attacks were lead by Steven Fletcher in front of Sessegnon.

The away side played more of a 4-4-2, with Demba Ba and Ameobi starting up front. Behind them lied a bank of four consisting of Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Tiote and Gutierrez. The defence which had a great game consisted of Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini and Davide Santon which protected Tim Krul's net.


 

First Half

 

Typical Flow of a Tyne - Wear Derby

After scoring early on in the second minute through a quick Newcastle attack which finished in Cabaye firing home, the match was very frantic as the home side looked to score the equaliser. Archetypal of any big derby, the midfield battle was frantic, with reckless tackles a common sight, as Cheick Tiote was sent off halfway through due to a contestable decision by the referee Martin Atkinson.

Sunderland in particular looked prone to being caught out from a midfielder diving in needlessly, which Colback seemed to do on a number of occassions, with the atmosphere definitely raring the home-grown midfielder up.

Newcastle play long balls to Ameobi and Ba until Red Card

Pardew's gameplan seemed to be to utilise the physical ability of Ameobi and Ba by playing direct football to the two forwards and aiming to have them flick the ball on to the other striker. This worked well, in particular with Ameobi, the 6'3 Newcastle forward often got the better of the Sunderland defenders, and nodded the ball on to his Senegalese teammate regularly.

Upon Tiote's disputable sending off however, Newcastle were forced to play with just Ameobi up front when defending, as Demba Ba was given the duty of dropping into the midfield bank when out of possession. This change made it much more difficult for the away side to attack, as you would expect, making the early Cabaye goal vital.

In the latter stages of the first half, James Perch came on for Ameobi to make a 4-4-1 shape as a permanent solution to their numerical disadvantage in the centre which left Ba back up top as a lone striker. Without the threat of two large strikers, Pardew's direct football became much less effective, and the away side looked to go about things in a different manner.

Johnson Utilised often on the Right Flank, but Newcastle get Numbers on him Quickly

Ex-Newcastle youth player Adam Johnson is one of Sunderland's most threatening players, and the manager Martin O'Neill looked to take advantage of their quality down the right hand flank, as the winger and Craig Gardner saw a lot of the ball. Pardew however prepared for this and got the nearby players (Gutierez, Tiote and Santon) to close the England international down as soon as he got the ball to dullen his creative spark.

Second Half

 

Newcastle sit deep with Ten Men

In the second half, Newcastle did excellently in keeping the home side out with just ten men, as the two banks of four sat deep, leaving Ba on his own as a lone striker. Sunderland made barely any threat despite having a numerical advantage over their fierce rivals and their only goal which came in the 85th minute was the only big chance they had, and that even needed a helping hand of a deflection to beat Krul in the away net.

Both of the Newcastle centre-backs had brilliant games, but especially the Argentinian Coloccini who barely put a foot wrong throughout the 90 minutes. The fan-favourite also made a vital touch which stopped Sunderland from capitalising on a Krul mistake after the Dutch 'keeper fumbled a cross from James McClean which was one of the rare occasions where the home side looked like scoring.

 

With only One up Front, Newcastle Allow Sunderland to pass Easily out of Defence

One problem with the 4-4-1 which every manager turns to upon becoming a man lighter is that with only one striker and little support from the flanks, the opposition can easily play the ball out of defence (one thing I mentioned in my well-received article on systems for 10 men). Although Sunderland failed to capitalise on this, I thought that Sunderland were able to pass out of defence almost too easily, despite Ba's efforts, especially near the end of the match as David Vaughan played in between the lines and distributed the ball to the flanks frequently after coming on (something which I actually talk about in the aforementioned article).

One thing which surprised me is that Sunderland didn't change their play much after the second half, uncharacteristically of O'Neill. Their only striker Steven Fletcher was very quiet throughout the match as Coloccini and Williamson both had great games in the heart of the Newcastle defence. I think if O'Neill had maybe taken a risk to try and capitalise on the numerical advantage which the home side had, then we could have seen Sunderland come away with all three points and a big win against their rivals.

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